RENTON – Maybe having to sit in front of the media on Mondays and dissect a number of defeats has left Seahawks coach Jim Mora a little skittish about making too much of a deal of it when the team comes up with a win.
They’ve now done it twice in a row, for the first time this season. And Mora was offered the chance to cite his defense – which limited back-to-back opponents to 17 points – as a factor contributing to the improving fate.
He mulled it over a moment, decided to go along with the premise, and ended his initial comments with the reminder that “... we’ve got to continue to improve ... we’ve got a long, long, long, long, long ways to go.”
We may assume that the repetition reflects his feeling that the team’s rank as the NFL’s No. 21 defense is somewhat short of his expectations.
“Well, uh, there’s some good things going on,” he said. “We’ve made some plays on defense the last couple weeks. Maybe it’s just that we’ve made some plays. And I think the players are feeling comfortable – more comfortable – in the system, more comfortable playing with each other in the system. They’ve been working hard and I think it’s just showing up a little bit.”
That’s when he went into the long, long, etc., disclaimer.
But the first step on the lengthy trip to improvement has to be obvious ... getting assignments correct.
In the past two weeks, the Seahawks have not allowed traditional nemeses Steven Jackson of the Rams and Frank Gore of the 49ers to demolish them, as has been their habit.
Jackson had been injured and probably was short of 100 percent, and Gore was handed the ball just nine times against a team he has owned to only a slightly lesser degree than Paul Allen.
Gore, in fact, rushed for fewer yards (25 on 9 carries) than did Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck (31 on 4 carries).
For this, Mora was thankful.
“They kind of did the job for us because they didn’t give him the ball,” Mora said. “But when they did give him the ball, we did a pretty good job.”
When Gore broke free for scoring runs of 80 and 79 yards in the Niners’ 23-10 win over the Hawks in September, Seattle linemen got shoved aside, linebackers couldn’t fill, and Gore just ran past the remaining players in the secondary for a long, long, long, long, long way.
For most of the past two games, the Seahawks seem to have somebody manning every gap. And, correspondingly, opposing backs are getting stacked up and tackled.
“Guys are understanding what to do, how to do it, what the man next to them is supposed to do, counting on each other to get each other’s job done,” Mora said. “I think all those things are playing a part in it.”
Yes, and the making of plays to which he refers? Some may remember coach Chuck Knox’s somewhat inscrutable standby cliché: Football players make football plays.
It would be clearer if coach hadn’t removed the modifiers “good” ahead of “football players” and “big” in front of “football plays.”
He meant that your big-time guys come up with the turnovers, sacks, scores, etc., when the game is on the line. For the past two weeks, cornerback Josh Wilson has been the football player to make those football plays.
Against the Rams, he returned an interception 65 yards for a touchdown.
Sunday, he recovered a fumble in the fourth quarter and returned it 41 yards. The fumble was caused by safety Jordan Babineaux, whose play of late also has been a boon to the defense.
Babineaux had been sort of a swing man in the secondary, a hybrid corner/safety, but was cast in a starting role after the team cut safety Brian Russell. He’s looking increasingly comfortable with his responsibilities.
And rookie linebacker Aaron Curry “has had two good weeks, now,” Mora said, adding that Curry is more focused and maybe “pushing through that rookie barrier.”
Maybe these are small measures in a season that has provided abundant disappointment. But the team has at least won two straight, and getting some of the defensive problems sorted out has been a large part of the reason.
Dave Boling: 253-597-8440
dave.boling@thenewstribune.com
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